Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of mobile platforms incorporating both wireless networking capabilities (e.g., WiFi) and global positioning system (GPS) capabilities. Such mobile platforms include, for example, mobile computing devices (such as laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, etc.) and various systems of transportation (automotive vehicles, buses, motorcycles, and the like). In instances where GPS information is not available, or when it is not desirable to enable the GPS capabilities of such mobile platforms (e.g., due to battery life concerns), the position of the mobile platform may be estimated using information relating to one or more network access points (e.g., “WiFi” access points conforming to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 family of standards) within range of the mobile platform. That is, if it is determined that a mobile platform is within range of multiple access points with known geographical locations, and those ranges are known (e.g., through time-of-flight measurements) the position of the mobile platform itself may be estimated based on the range information. The accuracy of such position estimates are limited, however, by the accuracy of the access point positions themselves. While a manual survey of available access points may be performed to populate a database of access point positions, such a method may be susceptible to errors when, for example, one or more of the access points are relocated.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems and methods for estimating and storing the position of network access points in an environment. Additional desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.